The Ticonderoga was assigned to guard a security checkpoint in Earth orbit. Cargo and behavior made it apparent that Rio de Janeiro is one of many rioting hotspots. MV Forever Young was caught trying to smuggle in firearms and explosives. Captain Laiyerr ordered its destruction. Owens sabotaged maneuvering thrusters so big gun couldn't be brought to bear, just point defense. Big gun on accompanying frigate GGV Bites The Dust destroyed freighter Forever Young.

Ti was contacted by Admiral Boris Lashnikov and told to reposition over Rio and await further orders. Owens further sabotaged Ti, called out by captain.

Captain Laiyerr: "You are relieved of duty."Owens: "No, you are!"Owens hits Laiyerr with a comically large wrench.

Allegiances quickly show themselves. Captain calls for security. Hawkins draws firearm and supports Owens. Shedeer draws gun at Owens, is shot by Reed before he could fire. Natasha talks captain down before he can do anything more. Owens places entire ship in lockdown, sealing the bridge. Yongen stays out of it.

After subduing captain and Shedeer, crew decides to leave through subspace making it look like a malfunction (as things are actually starting to get screwed up onboard). Evacuation is sounded and all except chosen few mechanics and one fighter squadron are evacuated in escape pods.

GGV Ticonderoga drills out of the system, going to an uninhabited system. It is now adrift in space, in questionable repair, and an escape pod is floating nearby that didn't make it out in time before being dragged through.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

SESSION 2

Crew roster in first post has been updated to reflect new players and their position at the start of the game. I'll be making a new thread to keep track of all characters so that you don't have to keep referring to the top of this one.

Koll-Cadaav manages to keep Rope Squadron on the ship as well and makes his way up to the bridge. Outside the bridge, security is cutting through the blast doors. Koll, with the twelve pilots of both squadrons combined, arrive as the firefight begins. Natasha is knocked to near-unconsciousness while Owens and Reed are knocked out. Four out of five guards, including Colonel Thomas Jeremiah, are escorted to the brig/security by Vertigo squadron, while crew and Rope head to med bay.

Michael takes the opportunity of a mostly empty ship to loot.

On the way to med bay, crew runs into five people on observation deck. One Government loyalist speaks up, the other four are sympathizers and the one guy surrenders, is sent up to brig.

Crew arrives in med bay to find Michael looting the place. Don’t quite know that that’s what he’s doing but he’s obviously skilled so they put him to work on the crew members. Hawkins tells two Rope pilots to retrieve the escape pod.

Koll sees the pilots, checks what they’re doing, and heads down to hangar to meet escape pod; is joined by Hawkins when he gets there. Escape pod comes aboard; life support was damaged and emergency oxygen was disabled so lone occupant suffocated. Is sent to morgue.

Call from Vertigo squad members sent up to secure bridge. “Uh, did you guys lock down the bridge again? No? Then we have a problem.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

The crew manage to get into the bridge where four crew members - Kenneth Bonifas, Gerrek-Giderr, Hans Grubelcht, and Onohara Hana - have holed up, following what they had suspected to be a coup. Proper crew say that there was a Coalition attempted coup but they managed to drive them out. The four go along with the story and help with ship restoration efforts, which will take three days.

Bonifas and Giderr go to the brig to see who's there and verify the story. They are captured as they try to force their way in. (Guess what guys, you're in now.) Before he could become suspicious, Hans was sent to Engineering where along the way a ceiling was dropped on him. (Not killed, just knocked out.) Hana was determined to have anti-Government sympathies and was brought into the fold after being super nervous.

The name "Ticonderoga" was painted out on the side to make the ship harder to track down. Numerous names were considered.

The ship is en-route to Hiranyagarbha, an old Indian colony with suspected Coalition ties.

STATUS

Current crew is at around a dozen. Usual crew is around 310 for three shifts of operability. Will need 100 crew to run the ship for one shift plus 20 as "night shift".

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

Event Horizon let into orbit around Hiranyagarbha with little hassle. "Oh you're on an official mission, stay out of my hair and don't upset the locals."

Owens led the away team, also consisting of Reed, Betrüger, Cadaav, and the six members of Rope Squadron. Hawkins is left manning the ship as XO. They went first to the Government-controlled station in geosynchronous orbit above the planet's largest settlement, Delhi. They went to a bar on the local side of the station and found a drunkard, Buddy, who revealed to them that Government presence at Hiranyagarbha is nominal and tense. He directs them (shortly before directing himself to the floor) to Mort Thurgood, a Government customs official who is good at redirecting cargo to places other than its intended destination. Owens nearly gets in a fight with Thurgood, before revealing that he's from Rio and was ordered to fire upon it, so he's defecting; Thurgood tells him that Rio was bombarded from orbit by those that didn't disobey the order. He says he doesn't know about getting them a crew but he'll see what he can do.

The team goes groundside to Delhi and looks for the seediest bar they could find. Finding one that is underneath another bar (the settlement being a densely packed group of buildings that has more or less merged into a megabuilding) called the "Shitting Shiva" and calling it jackpot, they go in.

"Let me handle this," says Cadaav. He takes a few steps into the bar, crowded with a wide variety of species in various states of ill temper. He takes a breath then says, "Long live the Council!"

After a tense confrontation with a human who turned out to be a leader in the Shivans gang, it's explained that they're looking for crew and solicit applications. After a couple days, the pool of 300 is whittled down to about 100 - enough to crew the ship for a full shift and give it a skeleton crew for the rest. Additionally, a pirate named Darius wishes to bring his own ship in, with terms.

Owens goes to meet with Darius at a cafe on the Government side of the station. Darius is wearing a nice suit and lays out the offer (10% profit share and control of first frigate captured; 25% of profit share after capture with minimum term of three months with the fleet, with any crew wishing to join him from the Event Horizon allowed to do so), which Owens accepts.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

We have a crew of rough-around-the-edges, but variously experienced, gang members working under you guys to fully man the ship, and have a compact with a pirate to assist you. Nah, you didn't miss much.

Also I will be happy if I have to neither pronounce nor type Hiranyagarbha again in my life.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

The Event Horizon limps its way to Deep Space Drydock 79, needing repairs but with no money with which to do so. They're let into dock at a standard docking armature and meet with thew dockmaster to figure out how to get into drydock to affect the needed repairs. The dockmaster points the crew to Edgar Pelkonen, an information broker who's often looking for people for odd jobs and likely the only one with the bankroll to repair a front line cruiser.

Meeting with Pelkonen, the information broker offers a few jobs that could be done, such as inspecting the combat strength of the Government's Hermes dreadnought or picking up a package with no questions asked. Knowing only of the Hermes that it's a five kilometer warship with an extensive escort fleet, the crew settled on the latter.

While moving the ship into drydock, the crew notices another warship at the facility, a large frigate christened the Grassy Knoll. They don't know for sure (to my recollection) but suspect that it's a Coalition ship.

While the Event Horizon was getting patched up, Hawkins works on a personal project as well as seeding fake conspiracy theories about the disappearance of the Ticonderoga. Most official reports say that it was the casualty of a subspace drive malfunction; Hawkins latches onto the ones questioning if the rebel freighter Forever Young had any involvement and publishes various theories in different places. The most out-there theory, and his personal favorite, is the idea that the Ticonderoga was abducted by aliens who live in subspace and which may be planning an invasion of the galaxy. So naturally it is this theory that confronts him when a Gabon recognizes him as coming from the Event Horizon, and knows that that ship was once the Ticonderoga. (Try to keep up.) When confronted, Hawkins states that it's not the Ti but instead an alien copy of it and oh my I've gone sideways.

Anyhow, the Gabon, who identifies himself as Jeff when asked, offers a place to meet with the crew and by the end of the encounter it's fairly obvious that he's seen through the subspace alien ruse.

Before doing so, however, there's the matter of the package. Fully repaired, the Event Horizon sets out with a few disabled guns and with an IFF transponder identifying it as a vessel registered to the Variable Shipping Alliance. With minimal trouble they make their way to Bright Way. They go to the previously-established bar to meet with their Ginok contact; being the only Ginok in an establishment full of Humans might have been enough but like the EV's ground team he was also wearing a VSA uniform. He compliments them on the disguise idea as it's made things much simpler; after some small talk they retrieve the sealed container and load it first into the shuttle, then up into orbit on the Event Horizon. Upon leaving dock, two other ships leave dock and begin to pursue, but with a head start the Event Horizon[ sustains only minor damage. The package is returned to Pelkonen, who gives them a bit extra (which is put back into keeping the ship topped off).

The Event Horizon now fully repaired, and crewed for a single full shift, the crew is now ready for their next adventure.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

The crew decided a bit of independent piracy would be in order to establish themselves before seeking out the Coalition, or to give themselves a bit of a bargaining chip, so they sought out an out of the way Government station being constructed - the orbital station around Sampo, a new Finnish colony world. They were recognized while taking the Jump Gate system out there, and at the penultimate system were met by two frigates as they came out of the gate. They immediately destroyed one, then took the other (Spirit of the Drill) for Darius and his crew. They jumped to the last system, out of the way where they couldn't be found, to effect some field repairs and get new crew members integrated. They made a Plan...

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

The Spirit of the Drill, captained by Darius, attacked Sampo Orbital and the frigate stationed around it, the GGV Alteria, while the Event Horizon attacked the jump gate control station and its frigate, the GGV Sunry. Disabling the Sunry with relative ease, Michael Betrüger was sent over to lead the capture team while boarding parties took control of the station. The Sunry was captured, Betrüger assuming command after exemplary leadership of the boarding team, and towed away from the jump gate, with Vertigo and Rope squadrons left on patrol. Darius reported success against the orbital station, though made no attempts to capture the frigate.

Two cargo vessels and two frigates arrived through the jump gate, carrying personal firearms. The Event Horizon collected its fighters then met the two frigates in combat, while the freighters continued on. Both frigates were disabled, and Darius told the freighters to dock and hand over their cargo. After stuffing the cargo holds, they jumped out to a Deep Space Drydock. They sold their goods, arranged for the Sunry to be recommissioned, and to effect repairs on both ships. They are once again lacking working capital but now have a sizable fleet.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

While the ships were getting recommissioned, Hawkins drew some leads on a continuing pool of personnel for the fleet as well as materiel, and has taken a post as the fleet's quartermaster. Shortly before they were ready to launch, the stationmaster, Vulfilas, called Owens to his office. Owens arrived to see him in conversation with a lieutenant of the Galactic Government Navy, who called for the dispersal of everyone at the station under threat of strike. Vulfilas asked Owens (introduced as "My head of security") if the forces at the station could take on a standard frontier border patrol fleet, to which Owens answered yes. To stack the odds in theor favor, Owens took the lieutenant prisoner, as well as his contingent of three guards and a pilot. (This reminds me, your brig is officially overflowing now.)

Two cruisers and seven frigates dropped in to assault the station; this was expected. What was unexpected was the GGV Aquitaine, a heavily armed and armored Government battleship. The Event Horizon and the Sunry took out the smaller cruiser and its accompaniment of smaller frigates, with the Sunry taking heavy damage; the larger enemy cruiser and its larger frigates took out the other more combat capable frigate on Vulfilas' side, damaged the Spirit of the Drill, and a single shot from the Aquitaine obliterated the Sherenneby, Vulfilas' flagship. Owens and Vulfilas called for a retreat immediately after some escape pod recovery (the Spirit of the Drill having recovered Vulfilas' escape pod); freighters that had been hanging near the station were able to evacuate almost everyone aboard.

Darius recommended an unnamed pirate world to effect repairs. Vulfilas was delivered to his own rally point, and the crew then set down to again affect repairs on the two frigates. Turns out battleships are no joke.

While most of the crew was ashore, Owens was in orbit on the Event Horizon when the CV Grassy Knoll entered the system. Praising Owens for his continued work against the Government, and for the job they did attempting to defend Vulfilas' holdings, the two met aboard the Event Horizon; the details of this meeting are known only to the two of them, as of now, and it is up to Owens to parse the events and guide the fleet forward.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

Mission: to liberate a civilian science team and their vessel who were onboard a space station orbiting Ginok.

The Sunry went in undercover, saying they were going to effect the prisoner transfer. They came in to dock, only to find that the station was suspicious - Betrüger and the away team were met with ten guys with guns. A firefight erupted as the Event Horizon entered the fray, engaging the two frigates in space while Betrüger, Bullet, and the away team took care of those guards (when one grenade fails and Betrüger gets knocked out, Bullet throws in a whole bandolier and ruptures the airlock; seems reasonable).

Bullet navigated the station and found a sympathetic guard who helped her lock off the station. She then threatened to kill him anyway. After being talked down, an additional boarding party retrieved the scientists and secured the science vessel as the Spirit of the Drill's fighters took out the missile tubes on the station.

Mission succeeded with all objectives achieved and no casualties. In light of this, the team is now officially part of the Coalition of Worlds.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

It's been a while since the last session, so if anyone remembers and can fill in some notes: the Event Horizon went to reconnoiter a large installation. I have notes that I won't be able to access as far as how much was found out, but I believe it was a large, 10km wide ring made mostly of scaffolding, with a more solid inner hub, and various ships arranged around the edges like spokes. The team was able to safely leave the area before they were engaged in combat, though their presence was certainly detected to some extent.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

The fleet went to go recover a fleeing freighter that was escaping a Government planet with a signal analyst aboard. In addition to its small patrol fleet, the Aquitaine was also in pursuit. The Sunry and the Siren picked up the freighter, only one of them taking damage, while the Event Horizon was disabled by the Aquitaine, which docked in an attempt to capture it.

And then Owens did some crazy guerilla tactic crap and captured the Aquitaine, jumping both ships home as they were docked together.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: B Burnt Skies - Recaps

It's been a few sessions since I updated this, but the campaign has ended.

Neuberlin proclaimed itself independent of the Galactic Government, and the Government in turn showed up in force to declare martial law against the insurgency. The captains of the fleet were inserted into various crucial positions and started gears in motion; when they (and the rest of the Coalition fleet) came back to Neuberlin with their warships, the fleet fought some familiar faces, then the 10 km wide Cronos superweapon, and along the way swatted down the GGV Typhoon, which had led the bombardment of Earth.

Neuberlin is free, the Coalition has a world to call its own, and the civil war has officially begun.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.